Archive for November, 2009

Shop for local food all winter long! In addition to our own Winter Farmers’ Markets in Exeter and Rollinsford, a number of different Winter Farmers’ Markets have joined us in extending the season. Locations include Newburyport, Newmarket, Northwood, and Rye, which kicks things off this coming weekend:

Get in on the secret and participate in the No Impact Experiment, a one-week carbon cleanse. It begins on Sunday, November 15  perfect for preparing for the holidays. Wednesday’s challenge focuses on how to reduce your “foodprint.”

NRDCs Simple Steps is hosting a No Impact Week starting on Sunday, November 15 with Colin Beavan’s No Impact Project. Described as a carbon cleanse, the week is an invitation to reduce your impact on the environment one day at a time, building on what you learn as the week progresses (to sign up, click here!).

The latest recall of beef strikes close to home with the most recent reports of E. coli-related illness coming from New England, including one death in New Hampshire. Fortunately, there’s comfort to be found in eating locally. Purchasing directly from local farmers is a secure way of knowing where your food comes from.

Many farms here in the Seacoast offer locally raised meat, including beef, a selection of which may be found at our upcoming series of Winter Farmers’ Markets. Additional information is available through our guide and website, Seacoast Harvest, and also at Local Harvest.

“For the first time in history, honey has been made on White House grounds.”

As many of you might already know, the White House vegetable garden is home to an equally productive beehive. The New York Times has posted an online multi-media piece and a related article on White House beekeeper, Charlie Brandts. A White House carpenter for the past 25 years, Brandt faces the unique challenge of raising bees on the South Grounds, which includes preventing the hives from being blown over by Marine One, President Obama’s helicopter. The multi-media piece also contains a lovely description of extracting the honey that, up until now, was a mystery to me!

More details on the food and nutrition track for Saturday’s free event:

10:30-12:00, “An Inconvenient Food: The Link Between Animal Agriculture, Environmental Degradation, and Global Warming” presented by Louisa DellAmico.This lecture is based on the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”.

From 1:00-2:30, a panel will discuss Healthy Options for School Lunches.Harvey Zarren, M.D., cardiologist from Marblehead, MA will facilitate the discussion and show a 12-minute film, “Impact of Fresh, Healthy Foods on Learning and Behavior”; Pat Laska, Director of Portsmouth School Nutrition Program will discuss federal regulations and funding, as well as improvements being made in the Portsmouth School Lunch Program; Stacey Purslow, State Coordinator for the Farm to School Program will discuss the purpose and goals of the program and its expansion of participating schools; and Kathryn Strong, M.S., R.D., from Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (a Washington, D.C.-based group) will discuss her organizations national outreach program to schools to help them serve vegetarian options that meet requirements for the National School Lunch Program.

From 2:45-4:00, Kathryn Strong will present Vegetarian Nutrition, which will include the nutritional requirements for both vegan and vegetarian diets.

The Massachusetts Chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association will be holding its 23rd annual Winter Conference on January 16, 2010.

The conference will welcome Joel Salatin as the keynote speaker presenting Food from Farms for Families, as well as a day long seminar, Introducing Livestock to your Farm.

The event will hold over 40 workshops and lectures covering a wide range of topics including: organic farming and gardening, landscaping, and living sustainably.There will also be an exhibit area and the NOFA Massachusetts Annual Meeting will take place.

Attendees can enjoy a potluck lunch, and enter to win the raffle prize.

This event will be held at the Worcester Technical High School in Worcester, MA.General admission is $50.Registration for Salatins seminar is $115.Online registration opens November 1, or entrees can be mailed in.

This year, Slow Food Seacoast‘s popular Thanksgiving event comes closer to home. The “100-Mile Thanksgiving” of past years is being updated to reflect our community’s progress in finding and developing more of our own local food resources. In recognition of these positive changes, this year’s Thanksgiving celebration of regional foods is titled “50-Mile Thanksgiving: Closer to Home.”The event takes place at South Church, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Portsmouth, and is cosponsored by Slow Food Seacoast and the Church’s Green Sanctuary Team, with support from RiverRun Bookstore. This year the event takes an exciting new format, featuring a7:00 PM talk on urban farming by Novella Carpenter, author of the book “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.”

The talk is open to the public, and in lieu of admission Slow Food Seacoast asks attendees to bring a food donation for the (H)EAT campaign, which works to provide food and heating oil for people in need across the Seacoast area.

Before the talk, Slow Food Seacoast will also offer an optional Thanksgiving potluck dinner in South Church’s downstairs gathering hall. Guests are invited to bring a seasonal dish to share that features at least one item grown or sourced from within 50 miles of their home. The dinner will include resources for doing your own urban or suburban ‘farming’ and an opportunity to learn about and share homegrown food.

This local Thanksgiving celebration, now in its fourth year, was originally inspired by the writings of Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, a Canadian couple who challenged themselves to spend a year living on just the ingredients available from within 100 miles of their home in Vancouver, BC.

Here in the Portsmouth area, Seacoast Eat Local took up the charge by promoting Eat Local Challenges in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and this year Gov. Lynch and the State of New Hampshire declared August of 2009 NH Eat Local Month, indicating the growing power and reach of the idea of sourcing food closer to home. Slow Food Seacoast adopted the idea for its first large public event, holding its inaugural Thanksgiving in November, 2006.

Admission to the 5 PM potluck supper is $10 per person, kids under 12 free. Potluck seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis; RSVP required. Please RSVP toslowfoodseacoast@gmail.com